Good afternoon and thank you all for coming. I am Chief Joseph, leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce. We are gathered here today at the Indian wars hall of fame annual induction ceremony to honor one of the key figures in western history. That man is General Oliver Otis or O.O. Howard. His actions in pursuing and finally subduing my tribe should be remembered always for the perseverance they demonstrated. I used to despise this man, but I now see he was only doing his duty.
He followed and successfully carried out the orders of the U.S. government in exemplary and honorable fashion. General Howard, or General day-after-tomorrow as we knew him because he was perpetually one day's pursuit behind us, may have been the only man in the entire U.S. army capable of pursuing my tribe as long as he did and ultimately preventing us from crossing the border into Canada, away from U.S. government control.
Let me tell you now about General Howard's earlier life and how he came to the west. General Howard was born on November the eighth 1830 in Leeds, Maine. His father and mother, Rowland Bailey Howard and Eliza Otis Howard, were simple farmers. When General Howard was nine his father passed away. General Howard was an exceptional student. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1850 at the age of nineteen. He then went on to the United States Military Academy at West Point where he received his military training. He graduated in 1854, fourth in his class of forty-six. General Howard served in the union army during the War Between the States. He entered the war as a colonel in command of the third Maine regiment. He quickly rose in rank to brigadier general and later to major general.
At the battle of Fair Oaks General Howard was shot twice in the arm and he had to have his arm amputated. General Howard saw little success in the eastern theatre, but after he was transferred to the army of the Cumberland he commanded competently in General Sherman's Atlanta campaign, march to the sea, and later through North and South Carolina. After the war General Howard was very instrumental in helping black's gain a foothold in society. He was the commissioner of the freedmen's bureau and was the main founder of Howard University, which was open to all races and sexes.
In 1874 General Howard came west after he was placed in command of the department of the Columbia and was stationed at Fort Vancouver in the Washington territory. In 1863 some bands of our tribe had signed a treaty placing our people on a 700,000 acre reservation composed of lands the white settlers no longer wanted. I and the rest of my band refused to sign and remained peacefully in the Wallowa valley of Idaho until settlers saw that the valley would be a great place to raise cattle. Whites began to encroach on our land and hostilities between the whites and members of my tribe began to occur. General Howard met with me and other leaders of our band which came to be known by whites as the non-treaty Nez Perce.
We met in May of 1877 at Fort Lapwai and General Howard told us the U.S. government's ultimatum: we had to report to the reservation with the rest of the tribe or General Howard would forcibly move us onto a reservation. Some young warriors in my band acted rashly and murdered a number of white settlers. I knew the whites would seek revenge so I decided that the entire band should flee. On June 14th 1877 General Howard began to pursue us. On June 17th we met his soldiers at the battle of White-bird canyon. We won the battle, and captured many firearms. We then withdrew, crossed the Salmon River and General Howard pursued us. After searching for us for several weeks, General Howard finally discovered our camp at Clearwater. Again we won the battle but General Howard continued his pursuit. We were forced to retreat out of Idaho into Montana. General Howard attacked us again at Big Hole Montana. He suffered many casualties but continued his pursuit. We retreated back into Idaho where General Howard again tried unsuccessfully to capture my band of the Nez Perce at Camas creek.
General Howard again continued his dogged pursuit. We fled into the Yellowstone vicinity of Wyoming and General Howard followed us. We then turned northward into Montana with General Howard hot on our trail. He attacked us again at Canyon creek. His forces captured many of our horses but again we escaped and headed northward. We now were determined to make it to Canada since some of our Crow allies now backed out of aiding us. We kept just out of reach of General Howard until he finally caught up with us at Bear Paw, Montana. He finally surrounded us and forced us to surrender. General Howard had pursued us over 1,500 miles across harsh terrain and finally subdued us. For that I present him with this award for having been led on the longest wild goose chase. This award may sound insulting but it is not. It is a testament to General Howard's perseverance and spirit of determination. General Howard rarely won a battle but continued his pursuit. He did not give and that is why he was victorious.
